Hello, Pummelo! (Japanese: ウィナーズカップ！フルバトル６ＶＳ６！！Winner's Cup! Full Battle 6 VS 6!!) is the 111th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on September 2, 1999 and in the United States on September 23, 2000.

Contents

Blurb

After winning his way to the final competition for the Orange League Winner's Trophy, victory seems a long shot for Ash as the Gym Leader deploys a powerful Gengar that topples one of Ash's Pokémon after another.

Plot

On reaching the island, the first thing Ash does is register himself for a battle against Drake, the Supreme Gym Leader of the Orange Crew. After having his Badges verified, he is told that his battle will be held on the following morning and that it will be a Full Battle. Ash is now ready to start training, but Misty tells him that first he needs to know where the stadium is. After being shown the Pummelo Stadium, (which is very hard to miss) Ash is shown the Palace of Victory where all victorious Trainers are immortalized. But no one has beaten the leader in a long time, and the reason why no one was able to beat the leader is because his Dragonite was too strong to be defeated.

The said leader is very disappointed about this. Though he doesn't have any time to dwell on it as Team Rocket have turned up to steal his Dragonite. However, one Hyper Beam later and they are already blasting off.

Ash is now ready to get into training. But there is a problem... Snorlax won't wake up. On consulting Nurse Joy, she states that Snorlax probably won't wake up for several days. This means that it won't be able to battle. Ash calls Professor Oak, who suggests using one of his other Pokémon instead. Kingler, Muk and one of his Tauros turn up, and Ash decides to go with Tauros due to the "beginner's luck" factor that won his battle with Kingler and Muk back in the Indigo Plateau Conference. Ash puts Snorlax's Poké Ball on the transporter and receives a very happy Tauros in return.

That evening, Jessie and James contemplate their humiliating defeat. A van drives past informing everyone that a challenger has been found who will battle the next day. Meowth likes this as they can get Dragonite when the challenger has softened it up a little.

The next morning, Ash arrives at the stadium ready to battle. After the customary handshake, the referee states that the state of the field will change after one of them has three Pokémon faint. As he says this, the flat field disappears and is replaced by a field with rocks on it and a pool in the middle. Outside, Team Rocket are more amazed at who the challenger is. But Meowth states that this will just make things all the more interesting.

Drake starts with Ditto, while Ash starts with Pikachu. Ditto naturally starts with Transform to turn into a copy of Pikachu. Pikachu begins with a powerful Thunder, and then Ditto uses its own Thunder. Next, they both use ThunderShock at the same time. The rocks begin to crumble, hurting Pikachu but not Ditto, who calmly hops from one to the other. Ditto starts using Agility, while Pikachu tries to shock it with Thunderbolt, but no luck. Ditto then hits Pikachu with Thunder, but it has no effect as Pikachu channels it to the ground with his tail. Pikachu then uses Quick Attack and Ditto use the same move too, until they meet each other in the air. Both fall to the ground, though Pikachu manages to get up and knock Ditto with his tail to win the round. Tracey realizes that Pikachu managed to win because he was in better physical shape. Ash has done really well to get past Drake's Ditto but he still has another five Pokémon to face.

Drake is proud of his Ditto for battling and is proud of Ash on his first victory and tells Ash that he's going to get rocked by his next Pokémon, an Onix! Ash recalls Pikachu and sends out Squirtle. Drake seems pleased with this. As Ash tells Squirtle to use Water Gun, Drake tells Onix to use Dig. As the rock snake burrows underground, it dodges the Water Gun. Ash is now unsure as to what to do, finally deciding to send Squirtle into the water. However, Onix gets to Squirtle first, knocking it into the air before holding it in a Bind. Squirtle manages to counter this by using Withdraw followed by Hydro Pump. A final Skull Bash finishes the round.

Drake is surprised at Ash's second victory, but tells him that he won't have a ghost of a chance against his third Pokémon, Gengar. Misty and Tracey are worried as no Pokémon is strong against a ghost, so Ash decides to try his beginner's luck strategy and sends out Tauros. Drake thinks Ash has finally slipped up. Tauros uses Fissure, but Gengar just jumps into the air, making the ground attack useless. Gengar then uses Confuse Ray on Tauros, who starts running into the rocks. Ash has no choice but to recall Tauros.

Ash decides to counter Confuse Ray with Ice Beam, and sends out Lapras. Lapras avoids Gengar's initial attacks by going underwater, coming out to hit Gengar with a Water Gun. Gengar then tries Night Shade, so Lapras uses Ice Beam. The attacks collide and an explosion engulfs the arena. Who will be left standing?

In the scene where Ash scans his Pokédex for Dragonite, the statue is above it, and not under it.

Dub edits

Although the dub implies that Drake is merely a fifth Gym Leader in the Orange League, the Japanese version specifically uses the title Head Leader to denote his importance.

When Ash is thinking about what Pokémon to use against Gengar, Tracey originally tells Ash to use Psychic or Ground-type moves against the Ghost/Poison Pokémon, making Ash choose Tauros due to him knowing Fissure. In the dub, Tracey says that there is no type that is really strong against a Ghost-type Pokémon, which Ash answers by saying, "Now's a good time as any for a little beginner's luck."